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LB2 and LB3 are quite a bit younger than me. Back when they were infants I took them everywhere with me, including work. I had a part time job cleaning two banks a couple of evenings a week. The pay was decent, which was important since I’d just bought a new Mustang convertible. The job wasn’t hard. Everything was provided for me including all janitorial cleaning supplies.
One night I had both of the boys with me. Since we were locked in I didn’t worry much about the boys, they had a couple of toys and could amuse themselves playing on the carpet. Or so I thought. As I moved between areas of the large lobby cleaning LB2 made a remark about men at the door. Being a bank with an ATM, I didn’t think much of it. Then I looked up. What did I see? About a half dozen police officers in front of the main entrance, guns drawn. I couldn’t imagine what they wanted and they certainly didn’t look like they were making a delivery for the industrial cleaning supply company.
I went to the door where I was ordered to open the door and surrender. WTH? I was authorized to be in the bank. It wasn’t like I had access to the bank vault or money - the greenest thing I had access to was a couple of green cleaning supplies. After opening the door and being frisked and questioned we figured out what had happened. One of the boys had pressed the silent alarm button under the teller counter. Everything was straightened out and all ended well. I never brought the boys with me to clean the bank again.
I hate the way some hot beverages cool off so quickly. At work if I’m in the mood for a hot beverage I drink coffee or hot chocolate. I sip both. A cup of hot chocolate is usually getting cold at ten minutes, coffee a little longer at fifteen.
My Mom knew that I like my coffee warm so she got me something to help solve the problem for Christmas. She got me a beverage warmer. I think of it as thermal heating services for my desk. It’s working out great. The hardest part of using it was finding an empty plug under my desk. I love it. My cup and its contents stay warm and tasty now. Thanks Mom!
RB and I recently went on a date, for a little holiday get together for the women in my office. We had a casual dinner at Charlie Browns. It was only the second time I’ve gone out to a restaurant since surgery. I had some tasty chicken that I was eating for five days. Then some of us went bowling. When we got to the lanes while everybody was at the counter with the Chief Shoe Giver I went and got my old bowling ball out of a locker I keep there with my Dad. See I used to be in a league and have bowled with my Dad, RB and LB2. I have never been a phenomenal bowler but I did all right. Anyway.
Onto the lanes we went. Now it’s been a few years since I bowled - 4-5 of them. So I knew I’d be a little rusty. Little did I know I’d do more than be rusty - I’d stink. One for one, for the first three frames I got nothing but gutters. Things improved a little after that but not much. I ended my first game with a 26. I know. That stinks! But we had fun.
Feel free to leave a comment - I’d love to hear if you’ve ever bowled a really great or really bad game.
With the economy the way it is today people are finding themselves contemplating a change or a return to the workplace. Unfortunately finding a job isn’t always that easy. When I was job hunting a while back I tried every avenue available including in person applications, online resumes and even an agency. It wasn’t until that time that I knew that there are specialized agencies that cater to specific industries - everything from administrative assistants to wine jobs and everything in between. I’d never worked with an agency before but there is something to be said for having someone to help you sell yourself during tough times.
When I went to work in an adult vocational school I helped the students with job search and placement. In trying to help a friend find work recently I found myself thinking back to what some HR reps told me they’d seen. With that in mind, here’s are eight tips to keep in mind if you’re job hunting.
I hope you find at least one of these helpful. Good luck!
Two of the ladies I work with are into yoga. One does it every morning, the other a couple of times a week. In my travels for Secret Santa shopping I noticed that none of the stores had a large selection of yoga equipment. What to do?
Looking online I found a company with what seemed like every yoga product known to man - from yoga balls to yoga wedges. One thing that I noticed when I was in physical therapy for my knee is how colorful this type of product is. It’s also very versatile. I didn’t know until then that the stretchy bands I used in PT are also used for yoga. Same thing with the balls and yoga mats.
Some yoga mats look like they’d work as nap mats, like kids use in school. They’d come in useful at work - we old people get a little tired sometimes. Hmmm.
The holidays are upon us. Things seem busier everywhere, at home, out in public and even at work. For those of you that don’t know, I work in the medical field. I can’t tell you how many times emergency services are called to check on people. Relatives of the elderly worry when they haven’t heard from their loved ones and often contact the police or fire to check on them simply because they’re closer. I remember when my Grandma was alive. We hated leaving her alone but it just wasn’t possible to be with her every minute of every day. Today there’s a medical alert system called Life Fone that can help minimize those calls, leaving those folks free to respond to other matters.
Life Fone clients wear a medical alert bracelet that is connected to an emergency response center. If a client is in distress all they need to do is touch their waterproof bracelet or pendant and they’ll activate a medical alarm. That alarm is relayed to a base station located in the home. The folks monitoring assess the situation and stay on the line with the client. They also contact the necessary emergency services agencies and notify any designated contacts including family and doctors.
If you have a loved one that you worry about, or know someone that does, consider looking into Life Fone. It might help ease your mind. The monthly monitoring fee is only $29 - less than $1 a day. This is about as close as you can get to being there yourself. Something to think about as the holidays close in. To learn more or to sign up visit lifefone.com.
I’m not supposed to have caffeine as part of the post surgical diet I’m on. At work they drink regular coffee so I had to find an alternative. General Foods International makes French Vanilla Café, a flavored sugar free instant decaffeinated coffee that I decided to buy and bring to work.
The French Vanilla Café comes in a 4.4 ounce can, which they say contains 21 servings. One serving is 4 teaspoons (1 1/3 tablespoons) mixed with 6 to 8 ounces of water. A single serving contains 30 calories. It contains no protein, no sugar and 2.5 grams of total fat.
I really like the flavor of the French Vanilla Café. It’s not all that different from the flavor of regular coffee with non-dairy French Vanilla creamer. The only thing I have noticed is that you really have to stir it briskly for a little bit or you end up with clumps of the mix floating around in your coffee. I’d like to see them make this in a larger size, for people like me who use it frequently.
General Foods International French Vanilla Café sells for approximately and can be bought online and in grocery stores and mass retailers nationwide.
Recently OfficeMax invited me to join in a webcast featuring organizational expert and author Peter Walsh that would demonstrate the [In]Place System, a new exclusive organizational collection of products. Yes, that’s Peter Walsh from the Clean Sweep series on TLC. I felt thrilled and honored to be invited but unfortunately was not able to attend. I was tickled pink when the folks at OfficeMax decided to send me a box containing pieces of the new system and some other office products.
Anyone who’s seen my desk at work knows that I like it organized. Thank goodness they haven’t seen my home desk. See at work I have lots of space and lots of drawers to keep everything organized in. At home I only have my small desk, which has no space and no drawers. As a result, sometimes my desk closely resembles a disaster area. The paperwork pertaining to my blogs, product reviews and giveaways has been known to just take over the desktop at times, leaving hardly any room to sign a piece of paper. Today is one of those times. Nothing is in it’s place.
According to OfficeMax, “The [In] Place System was created to help get work life organized. It’s a flexible system that boosts efficiency, assists with finding and managing files, reduces clutter and it totally portable.” Wow. They must have seen my desk.
My box of goodies included some of the pieces from the [In] Place System including the file tote, document wallet, durable file folder, Post-It Super Sticky Note Wallet, clip tabs and erasable marker. I also received a giant rubber band ball. There were also colorful paperclips, a journal, document envelopes and file folders from DiVOGA, as well as a pen from TUL.
Before setting up my new things, I watched the video of the webcast that I missed. If you’re interested, the Peter Walsh OfficeMax webcast may be viewed by anyone. In the webcast, Peter suggests keeping everything you need easily accessible at arm’s reach, much like the dashboard of the car you drive. He also suggests streamlining multiple calendars into one and color coding it as well as labeling everything. He had a tip for the Post-It junkies out there as well - write your notes and reminders in a journal rather than on a bunch of Post-Its.
Something I didn’t know but realized was true as soon as I read it - 80% of the files people save will never be looked at again. Peter suggests a purge of all files at least twice a year. So I started sorting through the papers. Some I filed and some I threw away. Most I threw away. When I was finished I called to RB, “I see desk!” That’s no so unusual for me to say. The fact that I can say it’s been a week and I can still see desk is unusual for me to say. Peter’s right when he says that you’ve lost control when you can no longer see the desk. He’s also right to stress the fact that things should not be put off until later, they should be done right away. It’s true that spending a few minutes now saves a lot of time later.
The features that I like best about the [In] Place System are that it’s durable, reusable and erasable. My favorite piece in the collection is actually one I don’t have but would like to get - the desktop sorter. This would really help me keep things organized.
Peter has a philosophy. “The word ‘organize’ and the word ‘organic’ come from the same place. Organic is to be whole; to be complete. That’s what organization does. Organization actually helps you live a richer, fuller, less stressed life.” This actually makes sense to me. I can go from calm to stressed within moments when I can’t find something I need.
You can check out the [In] Place System on the OfficeMax site, where you will also find tips and helpful ideas from Peter.
Thanks to OfficeMax and Peter Walsh for inviting me to participate in the live webcast and for helping me start taking back control of my desk.
To select the winner of this giveaway I put the number of entries into the Random Sequence Generator on random.org. I matched the number that came out on top to the comment bearing the same number and made sure the comment was eligible. A screenshot is attached.
The winners of the Spray N Wash Bright & White giveaway are #33 reva skie and #41 Rebecca C!
Congratulations! Please contact me within 48 hours to confirm that you wish to accept this prize, and please include your mailing address in your reply.
Thanks to all who entered the giveaway! Please consider subscribing to my feed so you don’t miss out on the latest posts, reviews and giveaways.
Earlier this week I went in to work and was told by one of my coworkers not to turn on any computer of I’d get a virus. There was a lot of concern over the Conficker virus this week. It’s always good to be cautious but she was being just silly. Thanks to the hard drive replacement we just did I’d gotten a reminder of just how old my anti-virus software is and that it needed to be replaced.
While browsing the sale page on Buy.com I found an awesome deal on new anti-virus software. Buy has McAfee Total Protection on sale right now for $24.99, which is $55 off of the regular price, or a savings of 68%! It also qualifies for free shipping. What a great deal! And what makes it really cool is that this version protects up to three computers.
McAfee Total Protection looks to be loaded with features. It offers anti-virus and anti-spyware protection, a quickscan to check the most vulnerable area of your computer, anti spam features, home network monitoring and content filtering of search engines that can be set by age. I’ve tried two other well known anti-virus software packages and have had issues with both so I ordered this one. I’ll feel better when I have up to date protection.
Remember to update. Can you afford not to?
BigHeartCards is a company that offers greeting cards online and allows shoppers to choose a charity to receive 10% of the profits they make. In case you’re wondering, I don’t mean electronic cards - I mean real greeting cards. The site is attractive and easy to navigate. When you register for the site you choose a charity. You can then browse by occasion, relationship and keyword. They carry a good variety of cards including birthday cards, holiday cards, announcements and invitations. After you select your card you can specify what text or photo you want to use to personalize it. Then your card is printed on #110 weight card stock with your message and the name of your charity on the back, postage added and mailed by US Mail.
At work we were informed last week that there is a mandatory meeting on 03/25 for all employees regarding our health insurance. People who don’t attend will have no health insurance as of 04/01. People who do attend will be learning of changes to our coverage. I realize there isn’t anything I can do about the changes as an employee. But what strikes me as unfair is that employees aren’t being told about changes until 1 week before they take effect. Whatever happened to corporate responsibility? Why are they choosing to keep it a secret? Don’t they care about people that have been under continued treatment or have treatments planned? I have a feeling that there will be more bad news at the meeting. I’d much rather it was a meeting about cheap term life insurance than our health insurance.
AC/DC says it all. ”Money talks, B.S. walks”
Today was a crazy day. The boys both had off from school for the holiday. Hubby actually had word last night and my Mom was having a surgical procedure today so I couldn’t leave for work until hubby got home. The upside? I got to drive his truck, which has heat and defrost. The downside? I was parked a gajillion miles from the door at work and since I had to work late I missed physical therapy.
Today was the first of Mom’s surgeries. She was diagnosed with skin cancer right before Christmas. Today they performed the Mohs procedure to remove one of the growths. Next Monday they’ll remove the stitches and biopsy another growth. She’s really scared and I’m scared for her.
You know how I’m always saying hubby gets lost? He did it again. He had to go ten miles or so from home and had directions. I don’t know why I was surprised when he called from his cell telling me he couldn’t find the place he was going.
While RB was out I got to explain to TJ that cameltoe is not a part of a camel’s foot and it is not a flattering or nice thing to say. Aren’t I lucky?!
As I yelled at TJ to go to bed tonight I couldn’t understand why he was still wide awake. Until I heard the words “Dad let me sleep until 11.” RB had the nerve to look surprised, like he didn’t realize letting him sleep this morning would mean he’d be up late tonight when he has school tomorrow. I know he realized this because I told him this morning not to let them sleep too late.
And how was your day?
For those that missed it, hubby got a job in November. He was hired for full time overnight. Since his first day there he’s told me about the promises they’ve broken to him. In November they let some people go. In December they cut his hours to four nights a week. Then three nights a week. This week he’d been scheduled to work two nights and one of those was canceled, which meant he only worked one day this week. Today he went in and discovered that the schedule for the upcoming week looked just as bleak, it would be one, maybe two, nights. He’s going to be looking for another job effective Monday. We’ve already tried to find as many ways to cut back as possible. We’ve cut spending everywhere including food and we’re trying to be as efficient as possible with the gas and electric (no, we’re not sitting in the dark with votive candle holders yet). The thing is, even when he was working four and five nights we couldn’t meet our bills so I’m terrified to think of things getting any worse.
